Twitter has added a new “Welcome Back” feature. The new setup displays at the top of active users accounts whenever inactive users they are following suddenly sign back into the network.

Here is a screenshot of the Welcome Back feature which was spotted on the AVC blog by Fred Wilson:

As you can see the Welcome Back message offers a very simple ‘Compose Tweet’ button which allows users to send that Twitter user a message directly to their feed.

The new method goes outside of the traditional email spam approach which could alienate some users.

The biggest question will be whether or not Twitter users engage in meaningful discussions with their once again active Twitter friends or if we end up seeing a ton of “welcome back” messages that do very little to engage.

James Kosur has worked in the new media space for the last 10 years, helping many publications build their audiences to millions of monthly readers. He currently serves as the Director of Business Development at Business2Community.com and the CEO of Aven Enterprises LLC.